A Few Things to Consider

The Valero Alamo Bowl welcomed this year’s three new interns to town on Monday: Hannah from Michigan State University, Matt from University of Kansas and Meghan from University of Iowa.

After a long first day of information overload, we tried to break the monotony by doing a staff Bcycle ride from the Alamodome to Pearl to Brackenridge Park to the San Antonio Museum of Art to the Alamo and back to the office. It was ungodly hot, but they got to see the city. Luckily, they all came back for Day #2.

Since we want the internship to be a rewarding experience, we try and get them focused early on what they want to out of their time in San Antonio. To help drive this message home, we often rely on past interns. This year they received solid advice from Matt Wilson who interned for us in 1999. Matt later returned as a full-time event manager before leaving to work for the Austin Sports Commission (His going-away cake read: “Good Luck Matt! You’ll Need It.”)

He called yesterday to wish the new group well in what he called “the quickest six months of your lives.” Then, he emailed a document he titled “A Few Things To Consider.” He shares this list below of Do’s and Don’ts with his new interns each year.

Do:

1.) Be on time to work.

2.) Bring something to write with and write on everywhere you go. You need to be known as the person who takes awesome notes and can find an answer quick.

3.) Always be positive. Even when you don’t want to be.

4.) Understand your role. Someday you’ll run this place. Not right now. Understand your role is support. That doesn’t mean that you can’t interject your ideas. I encourage you to do so. Just know that it may take a while for your ideas to be accepted. Nothing wrong with that. Don’t get frustrated.

5.) Develop thick skin.

6.) Be friendly with EVERYONE. From the lowest to the highest, get to know them and appreciate what they do. This is a small company, chances are you’ll need something from just about everyone at some point or another.

7.) Understand that everyone in this organization fills a unique role here. You may not understand what they do. Ask.

8.) Be willing to help with any project, no matter the department. If it takes significant time away from your duties, ask your supervisor first.

9.) Understand protocol. There is a chain of command in place. Respect that. If you have an issue, talk to your direct supervisor first.

10.) Recognize that almost anything you say can be heard by others. You are in a cube. Keep that in mind when talking to your doctor’s office, boyfriend, BFF, etc. Very little is private.

11.) Limit personal conversations on the phone or around the office.

12.) Jump on projects. Get some initial direction and then bust it out. That doesn’t mean do a crappy job. That means that you don’t ever want to get the reputation as someone that your boss has to ask you repeatedly for the finished project.

13.) Have confidence. You were hired because they thought you were the best person for the job. For no other reason.

14.) Ask for help if you are in over your head.

15.) Volunteer for projects. Get the reputation as someone that can and will tackle anything. Quickest way to move up.

16.) Use good manners and business etiquette at all times. When you meet someone, stand up, shake their hand and introduce yourself.

Don’t:

1.) Take things personally. You may get yelled at. You may have someone correct you. Just as you didn’t take your coach yelling at you personally, don’t let that happen in your professional career.

2.) Engage in gossip. Bad policy that never gets you anywhere.

3.) Talk bad about coworkers to ANYONE. Bad policy that never gets you anywhere.

4.) Tell the breakroom crowd everything that is going on in your life. Share what you want. But you don’t have to tell them everything.

5.) Over-indulge at a company function or out with a client. One way ticket to Unemploymentville.

6.) Do anything that you think might be questionable ethically. Don’t fudge on an expense report.

7.) Hang around in people’s offices or in front of people’s cubes.

8.) Say “I don’t know” and leave it at that. Find the answer. Get back with that person.

9.) Microwave tuna casserole in the breakroom with the door open.

10.) Say “It’s not my fault” or throw someone else under the bus. Accept responsibility and promise to correct the mistake. Do not blame others.

11.) EVER write anything in an email or any form of written communication that is something you’d never want people to see. EVER. Emails get forwarded without you knowing it. You may send to the wrong person. A note gets left behind and someone picks it up.

12.) Complain about how much work you have or how hard your job is. People don’t care and you just end up sounding like a whiney punk.

13.) Bring your personal baggage to work. Broke up with your boyfriend? That sucks. Get your work done. Best friend hates you and wrote something horrible on Facebook about you? That sucks. Get your work done. People have enough of their own problems, they don’t care about yours.

14.) Be catty to other female workers. We have 45 women in this operation. They get along amazingly well. Don’t upset that.

15.) Forget to smile. It is one of your greatest tools as a professional.

16.) Use Times New Roman.

Before we hired Matt, I remember talking to his high school football coach who told me Matt would run through a wall for us if he was hired. While I later questioned Matt if he was referring to balsa wood, we loved his energy and creativity. In fact he had so many ideas he renamed them “clay pigeons” as he knew most them would get shot down.

This year’s interns have a long way to go. However three days into their tenure, we’re excited about their chances of joining a long list of amazing hires. Of course, they may flee back to the North when they realize I was stretching the truth about the weather cooling down considerably by September. Thank goodness for iron clad apartment leases.